Faith kicked out hard at the man who was holding her in a firm grip. Her aim didn't fail. Her foot made sharp contact with his groin.
Giles winced and let go of her, clutching the now painful part of his anatomy.
"Faith, you were supposed to get out of my grip, not injure me, remember?" Giles told the feisty little girl, who was grinning in amusement at his discomfort.
She shrugged. "You let go didn't you?" Giles was starting to despair of the child EVER realising there were other ways to evade an attack. She tended to use brute strength whenever possible.
That was the reason that Giles was stuck training the girl in the first place. The regular teacher of this subject was currently in the infirmary, due to Faith. She had stomped on his foot and broken several bones, in an attempt to escape a hold like the one Giles had just been holding her in.
All of the other instructors had refused to teach her hand to hand, until she learned how to control herself in a spar.
Giles had managed to impress on her that she was not to stomp on people, but obviously she didn't fully understand.
"OK Faith, this time I want you to try and twist out of the hold. No kicking, punching, or other moves causing me to let go out of pain. Got it?" he asked patiently.
The child nodded, and he took her up in the hold. The child wriggled, but wasn't able to escape. Then she turned her head upwards and spat in his face.
"Faith!" Giles yelled, more than slightly disgusted. The child put on her innocent face.
"What, I didn't hurt you, you didn't say I couldn't spit"
Giles had had enough now. "Go play Faith, we'll do more tomorrow" Giles heard smothered giggling. He turned. Willow was sitting in the corner, obviously watching him, but pretending to read.
"Willow, your book's upside down," He pointed out. She blushed and turned it the right way up.
Giles was puzzled; he had thought the girl would be with Buffy. Buffy had completely taken the red head under her wing. And she didn't have training or classes at the moment.
"Willow, where's Buffy?" he asked, getting a sneaking suspicion that certain young Potentials were somewhere, getting into mischief.
Willow pulled a face that she thought was the picture of innocence. Actually it was more of a wince of guilt. Her three friends were off getting in trouble, as was pretty normal.
She had chosen to stay here, to distract Giles, since she wanted to go with them, but hated getting into trouble.
But now Giles was suspicious. What could she say that would distract him? "Giles, I was reading your advanced magic book," she blurted desperately.
Giles looked at her. No she hadn't, that book had a powerful alarm spell on that would have gone off if she had even touched it. OK, what were the others up to?
"Willow, we both know that's not the truth, now where are the others?" He asked, allowing a spark of annoyance to enter his voice. Willow winced. What could she do now?
"Do you promise not to get mad at them?" she asked. She hated herself for doing this, but that look. She couldn't resist telling him. She just hoped he wouldn't get too mad.
"They went to see Angel," she blurted. Giles's face blackened. Angel was a favourite with the young kids. They loved his game face, and to play vamp and slayer with him was their favourite pastime.
But Giles had forbidden his charges to go and see Angel on their own. The souled vampire lived in the nearby forest, but his place was well hidden. The last time he had allowed the trio to go on their own they had gotten hopelessly lost. It had taken him hours to find them.
"But they took a map this time" Willow piped nervously. That didn't lessen the stupidity of the children. None of them were good with maps. Willow still looked guilty though, she wasn't telling him something.
"Willow, what did you do?" He asked her. He suspected it would have something to do with magic, which she wasn't supposed to be practicing without him or another adult there. He wasn't wrong.
"I kinda enchanted it so that they couldn't get lost" She admitted glumly. Giles was surprised. That was an extremely hard spell. He hadn't thought the child was good enough to perform it yet. Obviously he was wrong.
"Come on" He said to her with a sigh "We had better go and meet them there."
Meanwhile Buffy, Faith and Kendra were well on the way to Angel's place. They were all giggling at the way Faith had been treating Giles. "You spat in his face?" Buffy exclaimed, her face bright red from laughing so much.
"Yeah you shoulda seen the look he gave me" Faith giggled. Kendra said nothing. She was feeling a bit guilty for going to see Angel, when Giles had said not to.
"Hey guys, do you think maybe we should have just asked Giles to take us?" she asked her companions. They shook their heads
"No, you know what he's like, he wouldn't let us have any fun" Faith said lightly
"And you know he wouldn't take us after what we did yesterday" Buffy added.
Faith, Kendra and Buffy had been purposely antagonising the other Watchers recently. Their most recent act had been stealing the glasses of several of them, including Giles. Kendra had been happy enough to stop it there, but Buffy and Faith had decided to take the prank further. The two of them had then hid them all around the camp. Giles had NOT been amused when he found his in their garden, coated in soil and manure.
Kendra sighed. They were going to be found out, she knew. She wouldn't be surprised if Willow had already cracked. Oh well, it was her own fault. She could have chosen to stay with Willow.
Finally the three reached Angel's house. And found an irate Giles waiting for them, along with a downcast Willow. He had taken a much shorter route than the girls, which they didn't know about.
He marched the three back home in a stony silence. Angel had chosen to come too, but that didn't lighten the mood at all. The vamp kept a supply of blood back in the town, since he didn't have electricity. It came in useful when hunting was light, like now.
Angel left them to their own devices when they got to the town. He hoped they weren't going to be in too much trouble. He relished his visits from his young friends, and was extremely fond of them all, especially Buffy.
As per usual Giles's charges used their adorable looks to escape punishment. Giles sighed. He was just a softy and he knew it. But they were just so cute.